If you’re new to the world of anime, you may be surprised to see an age-old fan-war about dubbed and subtitled anime. There are passionate defenders of both options when watching anime, but why is this even a thing?
I’m sorry you have to experience this uglier side of the hobby, but it’s a good time to cover the basics of why some people who like Japanese animation get into a froth about the soundtrack.
What the Fight Is Even About
The “sub” or “subtitled” anime proponents want their anime in the original Japanese language, with English subtitles. The “dub” proponents want anime that’s dubbed into their language of choice.
metamorworks/Shutterstock.com
The “sub vs dub” argument has been raging practically since the moment anime left Japan’s shores. Early anime that made it to the west were usually “fansubbed”, which is to say, these were bootleg copies that were fan-translated and then subtitled. Anime’s earliest fans, then, didn’t even have a choice because there were no dubs.
As anime became officially licensed in the West, local production companies paid to have dubs made in English and other languages. For many anime fans, their first experience of anime was with an English dub or a dub in their own language. For example, my first experience of anime was Heidi GIrl of the Alps, dubbed into Afrikaans, my first language.
I have a feeling that most people’s preference for one or the other is strongly influenced by what they experienced first, but there are plenty of rationalizations on both sides as to why their camp is superior.
Why People Love Subs
Madhouse
On the subtitled side of the argument, the main point is that original voice performances are preserved. There’s a common sentiment that the quality of the acting (whether you understand any Japanese or not) is generally better with subs. There’s some truth to this, especially if we’re looking at dubs from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. A lot of dubbed anime used bottom-tier voice talent combined with lackluster voice direction.
Dubbed anime (in English at least) ended up sounding like American cartoons, losing the unique flavor and more nuanced performances of the Japanese cast. There were some exceptions, and Disney in particular only used A-listers for their Ghibli dubs, but generally early anime dubs are like nails on a chalkboard more often than not.
That’s changed quite a bit though, and modern English dubs are done with a much better understanding of what made the original voice track good in the first place.
Apart from the performance and authenticity arguments, subs are simply ready to watch sooner, so if you don’t want to wait for the dubs, this is your only choice. Then there’s also the issue of dubs coming out weirdly because the new voice actors try to match the mouth movements of the animation meant for Japanese, though honestly, that’s possibly the weakest point, because anime rarely has the sort of mouth movement where this makes a difference.
Why People Love Dubs
Mashashi Kishimoto / Crunchyroll
One big reason some people will only watch dubs is because they find subtitles distracting. Not everyone can read as fast or fluidly as is necessary to enjoy subbed anime. You also don’t need to watch the screen the whole time to follow the story, and many younger people like to play TV shows in the background while they do something else. You can’t do that with a subbed show.
If a dub is done well, it can be a better experience overall because you can appreciate the art and animation fully, and have an integrated performance where you understand both the verbal and nonverbal elements of speech.
The Arguments That Keep It Alive
While it’s absolutely true that shows can have awful dubs on an individual basis, the real argument that has kept this topic raging over the years is authenticity versus accessibility. A show dubbed into your own language is less authentic than the original, but less accessible. This has become a real bone of contention because not all anime gets dubbed. Which means there may be some shows that you really want to watch, but if, for some reason, you just can’t make use of subtitles, you’re basically shut out.
There’s also the constant argument about localization. Subbed anime tends to have more literal translation and fewer liberties taken. This is more true with fansubbing than official translations, but it’s generally the case. With English dubbing you may get more localization liberties, with significant changes to the meaning of dialogue to match the current cultural context of the new audience.
A localizer’s job isn’t easy, but then again, many people don’t want to hear an anime character say something is “sus” or “on fleek’ because these will date the dubs for no reason. You also have problems like representing Japanese dialects. What do you do with a character that has a Kansai or Okinawan regional accent? Especially when it’s relevant to the plot. Do you give them some sort of Southern accent from the USA?
Ultimately, there’s also the emotional connection you make to certain performances. For me, watching the new Netflix English dub of Neon Genesis Evangelion felt like being in a parallel universe. It’s why I forked out $150 to buy the Blu-ray collection that includes the original 90s English dub.
How the Internet Made It Worse (and Better)
Lucas Gouveia/How-To Geek
Before broadband, the only way I could get access to anime was through fansubs shared around campuses where high-speed internet was available. Once a month or so, we’d get together with external hard drives and spindles of blank CD-R discs and share shows and movies that simply were not available to buy or watch on TV at the time.
Today, anime is about as mainstream as it gets. According to a Netflix blog post, over 50% of the company’s global audience watches anime. When I was a teenager I could never have imagined this, but it means that you can access subbed and dubbed anime with the click of a button. It feels like the golden age of being an anime fan just thanks to this access.
It also means that companies like Netflix are motivated to fund dubbing with good talent behind it, and new shows like Delicious in Dungeon have wonderful dubs. Fansubbing groups are still doing their thing, of course, but chances are all the truly good anime content will make it over to the West in an official capacity. Likewise, the trend of butchering stories and censoring content for a Western audience is largely dead, it seems.
On the negative side, social media have made anime fandom pretty toxic, or at least more visibly so. That’s where the “sub vs dub” debate really is the worst, and most people who just want to watch the shows aren’t the ones fueling it, they’re just aware of it.
The Modern Truce… Kind Of
For most of the two-plus decades I’ve watched anime as a hobby, I’ve been on the side of subs because of real problems with dubbing in the medium. That problem still exists with historical anime, but with new shows I’ll happily give the dubbed version a try and, if it’s good, I’ll stick with it. I still have a strong preference for subs, but quality dubs can only be a good thing for the medium overall, and it’s certainly made it easier to share the hobby with new people.
I think most anime fans aren’t too fussed anymore, and will watch whichever is the best option for them on a per-show basis, and even the delay for dubs is shrinking, with so-called “simuldubs” becoming more common. Which means there’s very little reason to actually keep arguing about this. There is no right or wrong answer, other than it’s always wrong when you try to dictate how someone else should enjoy something.
